The Sharks look down right dominating at times, but
they would escape with a 4-3 win over the visiting Minnesota Wild on Saturday
night at HP Pavilion. San Jose would record 25 shots in a period for the second
consecutive game and simply outplayed the Wild most of the night, but they
would make simple mistakes that kept the Wild within striking distance most of
the night.

Like the Sharks, Minnesota entered the game with a
three-game winning streak and matched San Jose with 53 points in the standings.
They held the spot directly above the Sharks by virtue of playing one less
game, but they would be lookging up at the Sharks in the standings by the end
of the evening.

The significance is we got wins," said SHarks
head coach Todd McLellan. "A win is a win right now. Whats happened
throughout the year against certain teams really doesnt matter we
cant go back and change it. The Vancouver win was rewarding because
theyre a very good team and we played well in their building. Coming back
here was had to play against one of the hottest teams in the league and again
we found a way to win. I dont want it to be diminished or expanded
anymore than it is. Its a win and its very important.

Logan Couture would open the scoring with a shot from the right dot that
slipped inside the near post. Wild goaltender Niklas Backstrom failed to cover
the near post, allowing the rocket to find twine for Couture's 22nd goal of the
season.

A cross checking penalty to Douglas Murray at 12:21 was
followed by a too many men on the ice infraction by the Sharks 48 seconds
later. The Wild would use the two-man advantage to knot the game at 1-1 when
Mikko Koivu cranked a shot past Antti Niemi from the top of the right circle.
Defenseman Brent Burns setup the goal with a pass for the one-timer. Burns
would record a point on all three of the Wild goals.

The Sharks would
go on another tear in the middle period, putting 25 shots on goal for the
second consecutive game. They would pepper Backstrom early in the period. A
nice breakout pass by Dan Boyle 4 minutes into the period would result in the
first of Devin Setoguchi's two goals. Boyle hit Patrick Marleau with a 60-foot
pass that allowed the forward to race into the Minnesota zone and draw two
defenders over the left wing. Marleau slid a pass to Setoguchi on the right
wing for a shot that Backstrom stopped, but the puck landed right on Setogchi's
stick for the put back and the 2-1 lead.

Setoguchi would bag another
goal less than three minutes later by deflecting a Joe Pavelski shot, after
Wild defenseman Clayton Stoner was sent off for a holding the stick infraction.
Setoguchi had to raise his stick to a blade on the rocket, knocking it past
Backstrom for his 9th goal of the season.

The play was reviewed by the
game officials to ensure that it wasn't knocked down with a high stick, but
replays showed his stick was below his shoulder.

We had trouble
handling their speed," said Wild head coach Todd Richards. "They were coming.
They were coming hard tonight. You have to give credit to them. In the first
period I thought they had a couple more opportunities. But I still felt that a
1- 1 score coming out of the first was a decent period.

Niklas
Wallin would take a high sticking penalty at 6:54 of the period, setting up a
Wild power play goal. Koivu would bag his second goal of the game on a shot
from the right circle, beating Niemi glove side.

San Jose was forced to kill of their 6th penalty of
the evening after Dany Heatley took a holding penalty just 30 seconds into the
3rd period. The Sharks would get the job done and then push the lead back to
two goals, when Benn Ferriero drew Backstrom out of the net before sliding
around him to deposit his 5th goal of the season.

Niemi made nice save
on Kyle Brodziak trying jamming a deflection home from just outside the left
post. Niemi was sitting in the crease and had to extend his pad to block the
Brodziak shot.

With the backs against the wall, the Wild turned up the
pressure late in the game and would cut the lead to 4-3 after Brett Burns put a
puck past Niemi with 3:25 left in regulation. Cal Clutterbuck put a shot on
goal that bounced out to the right side where the Wild defenseman pounced on it
to get the shot off.

Minnesota would pull Backstrom with 1:04 left ,
but it wouldn't help the Wild generate anymore scoring. The game would end on
an ugly note, when Andrew Brunette tagged Murray with a shot against the end
boards while the Sharks defenseman was facing the glass. Murray took exception
to the hit, which was ruled a boarding infraction, taking several shots at the
Minnesota winger.

Four games in a row is nice," added McLellan.
"It reminds me a lot of heading into Christmas. We had our game going well. We
were able to play well that last game and went into the break and somehow
forgot everything over a 48-hour period, so there is concern there. We only
have three more periods left and then guys will get their opportunity to rest
and to get focused for the last ride.

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